When the box of Golden Door Spa food products arrived, I was excited to see that the ingredients are all organic and locally sourced. Kudos to the Golden Door! As many of you know, I eat a very clean, organic and primarily local diet. It all began as a kid with my live-in Italian grandparents and it now it is paramount in my life because my husband Jim has celiac disease and I have some weird stomach issues.

So, how do I create a recipe that is both a nod to my Italian past, and embodies my current restrictions and my philosophy? Easy, peasy! I took one look at the packages that arrived and knew I would use the red lentil soup mix: Moroccan Harrari Soup Mix.

I am an old-fashioned concoctor. I mostly cook by feel, flavor and what I have on hand. I keep a rather stocked pantry and fridge, so I can run wild most days!! I had some cooked jasmine rice in the fridge. So, it occurred to me that if I made the soup recipe and added the rice and let it simmer for a while, I would have the consistency of risotto. And who doesn’t LOVE risotto? Better yet, who doesn’t like leftover risotto re-imagined as “Arancini” – risotto balls or cakes? So, this recipe is really a two for one!! First by simply adding the rice, we create the Moroccan Harari Risotto and then with the left overs, the arancin! I love getting two meals out of one dish!!

So, I present….The Golden Door Moroccan Harari Arancini….golden fried balls of perfection. The Moroccan flavor profile that Chef Michael Stroot created combined with a little Italian juju…… and voila. Truth be told, I didn’t want to challenge the wonderfully balanced spice blend that Chef created. The hints of coriander, fennel, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, black pepper, turmeric, salt, red chili, onion and garlic were enough to carry the day. I just doctored them up to provide a different delivery vehicle!! And I didn’t have to do much. Some rice, cilantro, red onion, mozzarella cheese and gluten free breadcrumbs.

They are as delicious as they are inviting. I had to slap Jim’s hand as he went to grab one before I finished cooking all of them. I served them with a lemon wedge over an arugula salad dressed with a little olive oil, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. A perfect way to devour the leftover Moroccan Harari Risotto!!

The American tradition of cooking at home is a practice that has been threatened by our modern-day mindset of emphasizing convenience as our primary goal. Molly O’Neill spent ten years collecting recipes and stories from across America, investigating whether or not this custom had really been destroyed. Thankfully, through her many miles covered and the countless stories shared with her, Molly discovered that across the country, Americans are still honoring their heritage with the foods that give their family a place on the map.

She compiled these findings into her book One Big Table. It is part-cookbook, part-reference guide, and party-history book. However, Molly herself gives the most comprehensive definition, describing it as a well-balanced portrait of American cooking.

My favorite section is titled “Bread: An Unrefined History”, which highlights one of my favorite spots as a student as Smith College, Hungry Ghost Bread. It dedicates an entire page to the bakery’s history, and goes into detail about the steps the owners, Jonathan Stevens and Cheryl Maffei, have taken to establish themselves as a self-sustainable business. The book’s dual focus on recipes and stories is shown in Molly’s supplementing the bakery’s background with a recipe for the owners’ friend’s, Jamie Pagana's, Rich and Herby Cornbread. The experience of enjoying this “soul-satisfying companion to hearty soups and stews” will be enriched by knowing the story behind its creation.

This is the ultimate Heirloom Meals cookbook. Not only does it share the foods indicative of a nation ground in culinary history, but it also includes their stories, advertisements of ingredients from the period, and the family photos which show the many people a recipe can touch.

Don't you just love that Frank SInatra song? It just gets me swayin'....

Things at Heirloom Meals are heating up. I was away for 2 weeks in May, writing the beginning of my food memoir. That was amazing and quite a process.

I have two wonderful Smith College interns this summer, Isabelle Eyman and Charlotte Dzialo. We are working on videos and radio shows. Our BIG project, however is the soft launch (aka pilot) E-course: The Heirloom Meals Family Recipe and Storytelling Project. It begins June 15th for 8 weeks.

What’s your food story? Have you ever wanted to get it on paper along with the recipes?

Join Nancy Aronie and Carole Murko for a 3-day writing and cooking from the heart workshop. We will write to prompts that will stir up your food memories. We will do some creative scrapbooking with your old family recipes and photos. We will cook and share our stories.

Your hosts bring their two passions together. Nancy will lead the writing part of the workshop. Carole will be walking down food memory lane and share her process of developing recipes from her Mom’s and Nana’s “non-recipes” as well as teach you how to make a few of her family’s treasured recipes.

You will leave with your story written and ready to be digitized into a family heirloom cookbook.

Those of us living in New England weathered an epic winter and are enjoying the sweet smell of the soil, the bird songs and the many green shoots that are appearing on a daily basis.

We are working on some excitng new things - our green shoots, if you will!

1. We will be launching The Heirloom Meals Recipe and Storytelling Project - an 8-10 week online program designed to capture your family food story, collect and curate your family recipes and produce a family heirloom cookbook. Details will be trickling out over the coming weeks.

2. We are also exploring a monthly membership opportunity. At Heirloom Meals, we are about savoring traditions as well as creating traditions. Imagine a monthly menu and entertainment guide - we supply menus, recipes and a guide to throwing memorable dinners for friends and family - creating tomorrow's heirloom meals.